Liquid meter



R. S. BASSETT LIQUID METER June 19, 1923.

Filed April 7. 1922 39 ill, I

INN

FIG. 1.

INVENTQR Patented June 19, 1923;

i 11mm s. nessnrr, on BUFFALO, NEW 6 LI UID ep plication fii'ea a rn 7 1'0 all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, Ronnnr S. A citizenof the. United States of America, and

a resident of. the city of Buffalo, county of 5 Erie-and State of NewYork, have invented BAssETT, a

My meter is so designed that a predetermined less expensive part will fail thus releasing the internal measuringmechanisin from -.its fixed position, without damage thereto. v

Another object has been to so control the failure of the predetermined less expensive part that the displacement of the internal mechanism will be effected'without damage to,'ori distortion of, any'of the parts, espe v I I V v bolts 22, 22, forhol'dingthe flanges 11 91and The above objects and advantages *have' cially the intermediate gear train.

been a'ccomplished'by the device shown in the accompanying drawings of which my complete device, showing all parts in their working position.

Fig.1 is a vertical sectional view through ig. 2 is avertical sectional view-through 3 the main easing of my device after failure of'the frangible portions o-f'the bottom cas ing due to abnormal pressure within the me ter, such aswould be caused by the freezing of the liquidfwhich it contains, showing the 4 and showsa variation in' the construction,-

the boltbeing a standard square head machine bolt 14. and. the recess 24 a cast recess open on the outer side.

usual separation of the parts carried by the METER.

1922; Serial No.550,365.'

i In the drawings, 10' represents the' top cas ing and 11 the bottom-casing. l2 isthe disc chamber, which is of the usual "and well known type, having a disc 13 ...The, disc chamber comprises an upper parti15: and a-- lower part'l6. Eachof'thei parts 15 and '16 is shown provided with" a suitable -mount.- ing flange l7 and 18, respectively. The; flange 17 rests upon the'flange'18,:which latter flange is. preferably mounted in arc oun,

terbored recess :in the bottom casing 11,

whereby, when the bottom casing is forced.

downwardly and released, by abnormal pres-xi sure within the meter, such as by freezingwof the liquid, the measuring mechanism will be allowedto move from its 'fixed position with-j f out injuring-the same. .Since'the parts lb. and 16'of thedisc chamber are not fastened together it will be obvious.thatjfthese.twoe= parts will also be free to separate "when a Y freezing occurs. a I

The top casing 10 isprovided witha flange l9, and the bottom casing 11 is likewise nro vided-with a flange 20. 'These flanges-pref-; erably extend around the, casing-parts and.

arrangedbetween theml'is agasket-21;.@Ther i to 4 inclusive, the head 230i the-bolt-22 is? disposed within a ,counterbored recess Qt'I The depthofthisrecess is suclr'as-to leave the metal above it in the form "of' a-thi n wall I 25 and25 which provides the-weakened", part of the casing'll,"which willbreak when undue presure within the. meter is caused by: the freezing, or partial freezing,"of the liq 90. uid it contains. .Since the-bolts -are'passed through the flanges with the g'asketfll dis-1 posed therebetween, it willbe seen tliat the bolts may be tightened the necessary amount? without danger of breaking the:v weakened portionof theicasing' 11." Due to' this construction, it will'be seen that when the meterQ isflto be used under conditions where'the; breakable feature is desired, the bolts 22 with theirspecial .head 2.3,"asshown 'in 'the drawings,- may be used. IIf, however,* :the meter is'to ibeiused where the protection" against extreme damage by freezing is not desired, bolts with larger heads may be em ployed, the heads bearing on the outside lower surface of the flange 20, instead of entering the counterbored recess 24: and bearing on the walls 25 and 25 as shown in the drawings. This interchangeable feature makes it possible to have but one bottom casing for the two types of meters.

The recess 24 is shown as a circular recess, and this type would be extremely suitable because, if desired, the recess could be machined to the exact desired depth, though it may also be cast in the flange 20 in other shapes as shown in Figure 4. The exact style of this recess, however, is not limited to the styles shown. In Figure f .the recess 24 in the flange extends out to the outer corner of the flange, which makes it more of the form of a notch in the flange rather than a pocket, and such a form would be easier to cast.

Arranged above the disc chamber 12 and supported by the part 15 thereof, is the gear plate 26 of the meter, on which is mounted the intermediate gear train. Intermediatetrain gear 27 is shown mounted on the gear pivot 28 in the usual manner and engaging the top gear 29 to transmit the motion of the measuring chamber disc to the registering device 30 of my meter. This registering device with its connected gearing is common and well known in the art and will not, therefore, be further described.

The metal at the bottom of the recess in the form of the thin flange walls 25 and 25 is shown as of two thicknesses, the flange wall on the side of the meter containing the intermediate train gear 27 being thinner and marked 25 while the flange wall on the side of the meter opposite the train gear 27 is thicker and marked 25 As shown in Figure 2, the thinner flange wall 25 will break first, allowing the bottom casing 11 to swing as'on a hinge around flange wall 25", eventually breaking this wall, as shown. This action, as though the bottom casing 11 were mounted on a hinge, causes the train gear 27 to become disengaged. from the top gear 29 without damage, while if the flange walls 25 and 25 were all made of the same thickness the bottom casing 11 might swing at any angle, and if it should swing in the reverse direction from that shown, the train gear 27 would beforced against the top gear 29, and the gear plate 26 and other parts of the meter might be distorted from their proper shapes As the house size meter has four bolts the two bolts nearest the train gear 27 will pass through the thin flange walls as 25 while the two bolts farthest from the train gear 2-7 will pass through the thick flange walls as 25. In case of a meter with six bolts, which would be the extreme number for this style of frost bottom meter, four bolts would hear on thin flange walls, and two bolts on thick flange walls, which would cause the bottom casing 11 to move as around a hinge after failure at the four bolts bearing on the very thin flange walls as 25 This feature of controlling the relative motion of the traingear 2'7 and the top gear 29 is novel and the exact form for obtaining this motion should not be limited to the construction shown, as any construction whereby the side of the bottom casing 11 nearest the train gear 27 is made slightly weaker than the side of the bottom casing 11 farthest from the train gear 27, will bring about the same results and will cause the train gear27 to properly disengage from the top gear 29 without damage to, or distortion of, any of the parts 26, 27, 28 or 29. This overcomes the necessity of fastening the intermediate gear train to the top casing 10, as is usual where all. breaking points of the bottom casing 11 are equally weak.

Obviously, some modifications of the details herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the appended claims; and I do not wish, therefore, to be limited to the exact embodiment herein shown and described, the form described bein merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

The recess 24 might be located in the top casing 10, and the position of. the bolts reversed, if it is desired to replace the top casing 10, rather than the bottom casing 11.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A liquid meter comprising a top casing, a bottom casing, meeting flanges for said casing parts, the flange of one of said parts having perforations and recesses surrounding said perforations to provide frangible portions, and fastening means passing through said flanges and recessed portions; substantially as and for the purpose "described.

2. A liquid meter comprising a main cas-- ing, an internal'measuring mechanism, and

means for holding said mechanism in place,

saidmeans having a predetermined breakable section with' certain portions of minimum strength and certain portions with materially increased strength, so that at a certain predetermined pressure the breakable section will fail at the extremely weakened sections and will move as if hinged on said portions of slightly increased strength,

substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A liquid meter comprising a top casing, a. bottom casing, an'internal measuring mechanism, an intermediate train of gears having bearing on said top casing and said internal measuring mechanism, and' hang ible means of predetermined different strengths for holding said internal measuring mechanism in place, the part of said intermediate train of gears mounted on said internal measuring mechanism engaging the v 5 part of said intermediate set of train gears" Witnesses:

,mounted on said top casing, at a point gen- W. J. CHELLEW, r erally diametrically opposite to that frang- 'CHAs. K; BASSETT.

purpose described.

ible portion of said holding means of great i l est strength; substantially as and for the ROBTRS. BASSETT, 

